Summer's Dawn
by Eilios
Summary: The ongoing journal of the son of a famous war hero, Autumn Fidelis, in his quest to become a hero using his giant mech in a hopeless fight against time. It's a coming of age story based on the flash game Pawn Tactics.


AN: Hi guys! This is a story I've been writing entitled "Summer's Dawn". I hope you all enjoyed it. Keep in mind that this story is very dependant on how you read specific words. The usage of nicknames is highly important here, as is the language into getting a picture of what's going on(I used many words deliberately here for this). Aside from that, sorry I can't bring audio files into , and that's about it! ^_^

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><p><strong>Autumn's Log<strong>

I'm not exactly sure how to begin something like this, I've never been one for diaries, but Cap says that all ship members are required to start a journal of noteworthy events for use in recapping the mission in a varied and nigh-omnipresent viewpoint. Personally, I think that's not a bad idea, but I wouldn't really tell her that. Cap likes to think I'm just an idiot with a big gun, but I'm a lot better then that.

My name is Autumn Fidelis, I am a Private in the Inter-planetary division, Section 16. When you read this, I will have became a hero. This is my story.

It begins, like so many other stories, with a girl. No, not me. There was this girl, her name was Rebecca. She was really pretty, long, dark hair, tall. I was dating her for a while at the time. Before I joined the Bureau, I was a high-school dropout. I'll admit it. It's not because I'm stupid, it's because I hate the education system. They don't give me the respect I deserve.

But I digress. Rebecca and I were on a date; I thought it was perfect. It ended with us collapsing merrily in the fields at night. Rebecca was especially high-strung today, and to be honest, I wasn't sure why. She spoke to me with glee, asking if I knew what day it was. I guessed it was her mother's birthday, but I was wrong(pretty close though, within 3 days. I'm not stupid.) about that. She looked at me sternly, before telling me that it was graduation day. I congratulated her halfheartedly, despite not liking the fact that she's a slave to conformity.

The conversation started up as it always does, talk of stores, sharing of gossip. Most notably, she asked about the war with the Alpha Centaurians. I acted tough at the time, telling her it would all be okay and not to worry, but at the time I was afraid that we were hopeless against them. I know better now, though. But above all, the thing that worried most was one thing she did. She said the one thing I never wanted to hear.

"Will you go with me to college?"

No. I would not go with her to college. I was destined for greater things(oh, and now I'm the best person in an elite squad, so I was right about that!) and didn't have time to learn from a bunch of stuffy old men in suits. I tried to tell her that, but she stepped back, saying that I didn't care about our relationship. Which is a lie, it's she who wasn't understanding my feelings.

We got into a fight, I don't lie, so I won't. She decided we shouldn't see each other for awhile. Which was a lie on her part, because we'll never see each other again. I was devastated at the time, though. I wandered around in a haze, trying to get my bearings on what was real or not. I wasn't hungry(I just ate a 4 course meal that I paid for), so I just decided to sleep there, not wanting to deal with all of the memorabilia of Rebecca that I had in my house at the time.

When I woke up, the combination of the fact that I didn't especially care for where I was going, and the lack of detailing due to low-light situations made me totally lost. I don't lie. I didn't know where I was, as I've gone so far from the surrounding area that I was just nowhere within sight of the city. It was rather ridiculous. I collapsed on the ground, looking up at the sun to try to get my bearings. I've figured out that I was pointing south, and knowing the fields stretch out in the southwest of the city, I figured out how to get back. I praised myself on my path-finding skills and got up.

On my way up, however, I noticed something interesting in the distance. An oddly coloured piece of grass. I walked up to it, thinking it was just nothing. Upon closer inspection, it seemed invisible. I thought it was nothing, and walked out. Looking back in suspicion, I saw it again. It was oddly coloured.

So I investigated, pulling at the grass. To my amazement, the grass did not get ripped out as I thought it would. It stayed strong. So I pulled harder. And harder. The grass never came out. In desperation, I grabbed the grass with two hands and pulled with all my might, trying to get it to come out(I am aware this is rather silly, but I was just through a breakup. Even the best of us have our off moments) to no avail.

What did come out, though, was the ground. There was an underground base there, somewhat decrepit and covered in cobwebs that criss-cross in intricate positions. And among the soft glow coming from underground meeting the bright warmth of the sun, I knew this was meant for me. Without hesitation, I went down. And what I found was startling.

It was a very large semicircle, intricately patterned, with small wooden steps leading up to it. While it seemed to be rather ineffectual compared to the level of hiding this thing was made for, I knew there was more to it then meets the eye. So I looked inside the hollow part of the semicircle. There was a flat box cut out of it, a key with a piece of paper. I took the key, and looked at the paper. It was tightly folded, so I unfolded it. There was a message on it, hastily scrawled.

"Hello to whomever finds this – my name is Eilios. I don't know if by the time you find this you've heard of me, but I was an inventor and a general in a few wars. That's beside the point, however. This is my new device – the PAIR, or Psytek Assisted Interpersonal Robot. For lack of a better term, it's a type of vehicle that you get in to ride around. It's powered by Psytek, something I heard about in a dream. I hope you find a use for it."

I was bewildered – a device made by the old war hero, Eilios himself? Of all people to make it. But it made sense to me – I knew I was destined for greatness, and this was greatness. Something made by the mighty Eilios of the NNC, the man who brought peace to us. Without hesitation, I grabbed the key. I looked inside for a hole it belonged to. There was none. I slammed my fist down on the PAIR in anger and frustration, but there's something I noticed.

There was a softly glowing red spot in the inside compartment. Confused, I looked at it. It began to glow brighter. I almost grinned, and that seemed to excite it to new glowing heights. I shoved the key into the glowing spot, and immediately, the PAIR whirred to life. The box compartment in the centre started shifting, becoming a rather fair-sized cockpit for me. Arms appeared, arms and legs. A dashboard appeared. But most notably, the red hole expanded, becoming a circle.

I hopped inside, looking at the circle. It pulsed outwards, making it seem like I should take the key out, so I did. When I took the key out, I found that it burned into my hand. It hurt a lot, I won't lie. I didn't scream, though, because I'm not a pansy. The PAIR began to speak to me in a robotic voice.

"Greetings. I am the PAIR system, and you are my master. The PAIR system is designed to sync with your emotions, creating a bond between pilot and machine that cannot be broken – this is why it is called a PAIR. There is a 63% link between pilot and machine. Not enough solar energy for stored replacement – please recharge batteries."

I have included a recording of a later start-up message that says similar things, so that you will understand what it is that is going on.

Now, when I heard this, I was bewildered and elated at the same time. I jumped out of the dark corridor, my heart racing energetically as I found my true calling. I found that when I would normally walk, the PAIR would do it for me. I also found that, despite somewhat clumsy, I could go incredibly fast, jump incredibly high, and if I wanted to float in the air, the PAIR would release a thruster for me.

This was all it took for me to become the talk of the town. The PAIR system encoded the key in my DNA, so there was no chance of anyone stealing my PAIR from me. I was the only one who could use it. I was at place to place, showing off the PAIR. My sync ratios were at a 60-75% average, which was great. People were astonished at what it could do.

And weeks later, people would come to my city just to see it. I was more then the talk of the town, I was the talk of the world. Finally, I thought I had reached my destiny. People asked me questions, and I answered them to the best of my ability. All was well, as it should be. I decided to name the PAIR "Summer". Eventually, a women went up to me, and asked if there was any chance of it being stolen. I explained the key thing to her. She asked how I could possibly store such a large thing, and I responded with "The mighty Summer does not need storing? Besides, how could you possibly store such a large object?".

"To reduce the size of the PAIR system, the holder must place the key inside and shout to activate storage system," Summer replied in a robotic voice. Astounded, I tried to keep my cool and say "well, there you go!". When she left, I tried it. I shouted. Nothing happened. Then I shouted "ACTIVATE STORAGE SYSTEM". Surprisingly, the machine responded, and began to bunch itself up and up, making nooks and crannies where you couldn't possibly imagine.

The end result was a rather standard pair of lancer cybernetic leggings, and a specialized gun. The red connection circle was pulsing on the leggings, and there was a similarly coloured red protrusion from the gun. I placed the protrusion in, and Summer started unfolding itself. I smiled to myself – there was no end to the wonders this device could do. I decided to back to Lancer mode. Just after that, I heard a loud knock.

"Autumn Fidelis, you are wanted by the Bureau for military duty!" the voice shouted. It was female.

"Why me? I'm just a kid!" I replied. It is to be noted that I did not lie there, I merely left out the part about me having a device invented by the great war-hero Eilios of the NNC. I do not lie.

"Don't joke with me. We know about your little machine," she replied, with obvious (unwarranted) contempt for me, "so don't try to trick us!"

I sighed aloud and opened the door. They explained themselves to me, that they were Section 16, the only section to survive an Alpha Centaurian attack. Halfway through, it hit me. She went on through boring stuff about ranks when I blurted out my answer.

"I'll do it. I'll pilot this thing for you."

"What?" she asked in obvious shock.

"Listen up, because it's about time somebody knew this - I am Autumn Fidelis. Ever since my mother died on me, I knew that it couldn't been in vain! I will not disgrace her memory by being less than what I can be! I will be me!" I explained to her, rather enthusiastically. She stood there in complete shock, unable to process my determination.

"Other people, when they see an impossible challenge, they back down. BUT NOT ME! I am Autumn Fidelis! This is Summer! And you know something? Together, we stand a chance at taking down the Alpha Centaurians! Nothing can stop the mighty Summer, piloted by the indomitable Autumn! I will show them the power of my Summer!" I shouted. Awestruck by my determination, but still rather hell-bent on trying to act superior to me, she replied.

"Are you an idiot?" she asked.

"Excuse me? Haven't you heard? I will not back down!" I replied.

"You could die. I appreciate that you're taking this offer, but at least take it seriously!" she fumed.

"I am taking it seriously. I am Autumn Fidelis. I don't lie. I don't joke around. When I say I will defeat the Alpha Centaurians, I mean it!" I shouted back.

"You can't just beat them on your own! You're just a kid with a robot!" she rather rudely rebutted.

"I'm not just any kid. I'm Autumn Fidelis. Besides, I'm agreeing with you. You need me. Why are you arguing? Give me the paper so I can prove to the world the power of my Summer."

She sighed and gave in to my flawless logic, handing me the paper. I signed my name at the bottom. The rest of the days were a haze, with me explaining to the townsfolk that I would not lose. Rebecca was astounded by my determination and heroism despite being broken up. She sure missed out. Finally, I found myself upon our ship – Pendragon. The girl from earlier was running a speech.

"We're back in space again," she began dreamily, "and we've been forced to hire a new person. Protocol dictates that we must let him make an introduction, so get ready," she sourly finished.

"Thank you for that pleasant and thoroughly respectful introduction," I sarcastically replied, much to her dismay, "yes, I'm new. My name is Autumn Fidelis. I've heard you survived an attack by the Alpha Centaurians. That's all fine, but don't you wish for something better?". A few people murmured amongst themselves in disbelief.

"And that's where I came in!" I announced with a flourish.

"I've said it before. My name is Autumn Fidelis. I will not back down. With Summer here on my legs, we cannot lose! This is my mech, and your hopes of survival. Summer here is the only prototype of a program started by somebody you may know, entitled PAIR. Only I can pilot it, and only it can defeat the Alpha Centaurians," I began, much to their disapproval.

"Oh, you don't like that? Wait until you hear who made it. Eilios."

The crowd picked up. I soaked it in, enjoying their approval. The captain from earlier obviously did not like this, probably out of jealousy or something of the sort.

"Summer, who made you?" I asked.

"I am model 0-1 of the PAIR system, designed by Eilios to protect the capital," it replied. I grinned. Discussions broke out on whether or not it was true. The correct side argued that nobody else could have done something of this calibre, the incorrect side were just too stuck up to believe that I could have something this wonderful.

"Now that I have your attention, I will hope to get to know you all well. If you work with me, the Alpha Centaurians will have no chance," I began, met with some confusion and lack of belief, "but don't trust me on it. Trust our hero! Trust Eilios, the founder of our utopia!" I finished dramatically. Applause broke out from everyone except the captain, who just walked up sourly and shooed me away.

"Yes, yes. Calm down. That was our new recruit, Autumn Fidelis. He's been marked untouchable by the Bureau, so don't give him any grief," she stated.

"With that said, our mission, as it usually is, is to keep the peace and protect inter-planetary borders. Usually, this means going through the riffraff of piracy, nothing much. There will be no Alpha Centaurians, but seeing as this is the only area to ever be attacked by them, we've been sent him as backup," she explained, with a rather sour note on "him".

"Finally, I've heard reports of a rather organized and effective crime ring starting up, they call themselves NELLE, or New-Earth Lion's Liberation Effort. It's lead by that old fanatical preacher Lion, and they're supposedly incredibly effective. This is all rumours, but stay on your toes," she droned, "and finally, Autumn, please talk to everyone in the forward group personally so you can get to know them. My name is Astrid, and please call me that, not Captain. I don't like the formality."

A group approached me, headed by a rather large black person, a woman who could only be described as tiny, and a larger woman who could only be described as active. They were obviously part of my group, as they had the same badge as I did.

"Hello! How're you doing?" asked the larger girl jovially, "my name is Aria. I'm the first-mate here, but I'm really not that much like the captain. Supposedly, I was picked for contrast or something of the sort, but I don't really see it myself!"

"Hello, Aria, I'm Autumn, but you probably heard me before."

"Well, Autumn, my name is Erevu. I'm the demolitions expert here, and I'd like to get to know you better, myself. Your speech was a little thin on your personality, so, I'm looking forward to working with you," he explained. Somewhere in this conversation, Aria wandered off.

"Thank you, Erevu. And who are you?" I asked the short woman.

"Me?" she quietly asked.

"Yes, you."

"I'm L-Leliel, I'm the engineer here," she stammered.

"Oh, well that's great! I was wondering what you could tell me about Summer? I know a lot about it, as is expected, but I don't know the nitty-gritty details, you know?" I asked her. She made a squeak sound and made an excuse, I can't remember what it was. Erevu laughed heartily and clapped me on the back.

"She don't really talk much, it's a lost cause. Damn good Accelerator, damn good engineer, terrible people-person," he explained, trying to hold back laughter.

"I see," I replied. There was an awkward silence for a bit, before he said his goodbyes. I looked around a bit for Leliel, but she wasn't there. I'd finally given up when the loud warning bell rang. The bell quickly quieted down, and the Captain's voice rung through.

"We're under attack! Rebel faction is firing at us! Forwards, move out! Leliel, we'll need you to be an accelerator for us, too!" she shouted. Hushed conversations broke out everywhere among non-forwards as I rushed to the hangar. (Speaking of that, whoever made that badge visual UI thing, thank you! It's really nice!)

In the battle, we were debriefed on the enemy – that we don't know anything about them. Not much of a debriefing. Since it was my first time in the field, Leliel was assigned to protect me. She was pretty frantic about that, and buried her face for the entire time. Don't really know why, maybe she was scared?

When we met them in space, explosions went everywhere, fired from Erevu. He gave me a friendly thumbs up inside his suit, and continued opening fire on them. Aria fired constant gauss rounds at them, but they were rather ineffectual against their Accelerator. I started to ask Leliel if she would do anything, but she stopped me. I sighed, pulling the gun out. Suddenly, I heard something, and Summer rang out with "Protection". A person went flying back as Summer shot a blast of air at them.

He was rather well-built, if not as tall as myself, but he was wearing a mask. Seemed like a ninja, but that wasn't going to stop me. I dragged the gun into the red hole in the leggings. Leliel blushed furiously, and soon I found myself in a cockpit as the mech unfolded around me. The person was rightfully dumbfounded, so I decided to explain myself.

"Listen up, you idiots!" I shouted from the cockpit. It was incredibly loud, as it was amplified by Summer. "My name is Autumn Fidelis! I don't have time for small-fry like yourself! I am here to defeat the Alpha Centaurians! You cannot stop me!"

The man stared at me in shock, before charging at me. My dashboard showed that I had a 63% connection, which wasn't bad, and I was able to deflect him aside rather easily. He charged at me again, but I blocked him. He seemed frustrated, and hit me again. This time, though, I noticed something. He wasn't using an ordinary recon knife, he was using a Jetpacker's pulse knife. It pierced my armour and knocked me back, and as I was falling, I noticed something. Just then, I knew what I had to do.

Leliel sprung into action, firing a speedup beam to throw off his moments, so he was unable to finish me. The man charged at Leliel in frustration. I don't know why, but at that moment, something changed. My sync ratios went up. Way up. They ended up at 116%, which seems impossible, but actually it makes sense because sync ratios are done on "how well your brain identifies with the machine compared to your body". Therefore, I was incredibly powerful, and effortlessly kicked the man out of the way.

"LISTEN UP!", I shouted, "MY NAME IS AUTUMN FIDELIS! I DON'T PLAY AROUND! IF YOU TRY TO ATTACK MY TEAMMATES INSTEAD OF ME, YOU ARE INSULTING MY HONOUR! AND I WILL NOT STAND FOR THAT!"

The man stared at me. I charged at him, meeting every of his attacks head on, forcing him to turn away. He found himself pushed back and back, struggling with avoiding my powerful hits.

"So you want to play with knives, huh?" I asked. "Well, here, have some! Summer, temporary weightening!" I shouted. Bit of an addendum, Summer is capable of temporarily using large amounts of power and a built-in fluid it creates to make items. Knives are pretty easy. So I withdrew my knives, and charged at him. Just then, I found myself shot a couple of times in the chest. Leliel shrieked.

"You think a few fancy speeches will turn us down! We're NELLE! Not some little gang!" he shouted, firing at me all the while, "You think the name Autumn Fidelis means anything to me? Well, it doesn't! I am Atinus! This is Kaito! We will defeat you!"

Leliel suddenly broke. With a blank expression on her face, she threw two SMs at the ground in front of me, redirecting the bullets at them. Atinus and Kaito dived out of the way, but Atinus took a bullet. Leliel fired a void launcher, but it was shot in midair. Then, I found my composure.

"Sneak attacks are pathetic! How dare you ruin my moment of glory? I can't stand for this!". My dashboard was practically blinding, but somehow, I managed to see well enough to fire weighted-projectile after weighted-projectile. In the background, my team was doing exceptionally well, probably because I was holding off their best person. I looked down. 238%.

"Alright, with this kind of sync ratios, I can do something really great! Let me show you why Summer is the best hope for humanity, and why you can NEVER CATCH UP!" I shouted. Leliel looked at me, dumbfounded. I gave her a thumbs up. Erevu sent me a message over my badge's comm-channel around this time.

"What are you doing? That guy, Kaito, is a wanted killer of 24 men. He's dangerous, I don't want to see you guys get hurt!" he stated. I shook my head.

"I don't run away," I said, closing the comm-channel, "I don't run away!" I shouted into the mech. Leliel sighed, pulling out a sidearm pistol in junction with her accelerator beam, firing at people in the distance to provide support. Between the constant projectiles fired at them, and the fact that I was obviously storing power, something clicked with Atinus that he was in trouble.

"You'll never defeat me! Summer, let's do this!" I shouted, as I jumped into the air. Kaito looked up, then whispered something to Atinus and ran. They both started running away. I landed right in front of them. "Summer, ultimate blade!"

Atinus shot at me, to no effect – Leliel's SM blocked them. Summer generated a weighted blade roughly three times as long as me, and as thick as my arm. Atinus was horrified. Kaito merely stared at it.

"You're FINISHED! You will never understand the power of my determination! As long as I have Summer, nothing can stop me!" I explained enthusiastically. "Ultimate finisher, ground smashing SUMMER WIND!"

I swung at them as hard as I could – nothing. I wondered as to what it is, but then I saw. They used their ship's Accelerator beam to slow me to a standstill. Kaito and Atinus ran. The ship aimed all of their cannons at me, and I grimaced. I do not lie, and I won't – I was afraid, I knew Summer was powerful, but not that powerful.

**BOOM**

I looked around in a daze, trying to find where it came from. It was Erevu, with a displeased look on his face. The explosion was rather large for a mauler gun – but then it hit me, it wasn't just ONE mauler gun. Leliel was right behind him, gathering bullets into the SM, before launching then straight at the cannon.

**BOOM BOOM**

Again and again, the duo fired at the cannon. Aria shouted into my Comm-channel:

"What are you doing? RUN!" she yelled. I activated my thrusters and flew all of the way to the hangar, picking up Leliel and Erevu with me as we flew back. As a final act, I took all of the weighted blade I used and gathered it up, firing it at the ship in an ultra-dense blast. I think it made quite a dent on them, as they retreated.

Inside, there was a flurry of activity, one girl in particular stood out as a good medic. I made a mental note that if ever Summer was pierced again, I would go to her for help. The Captain seemed everywhere, asking people if they were all-right, what they thought happened, and questions of the like. After awhile of this, I found my composure, and wandered towards my room.

I met Erevu in the corridor leading up to it, and he shook his head disapprovingly at me, mentioning something about how I could have gotten myself killed. The Captain followed closely behind, saying that I definitely would have gotten myself killed, and that I needed to learn how to fight better. Right before she was about to punish me, of all people, Leliel spoke up.

"Excuse me... but if it wasn't for him, we'd be dead, too," she explained.

"What are you talking about? He did nothing but attack that one Kaito person the entire time!" the Captain fired back.

"Well, that Kaito person had a pulse-knife... and a bomb."

Silence. The Captain made a motion like she was going to speak a couple of times, but never got around to actually saying it, until finally, she asked for Leliel to repeat herself. I spoke up.

"You heard her. Leliel was right, Kaito was carrying a bomb. When he hit me with the pulse-knife, I knew something was off about him. He was carrying a bomb, and I couldn't have let it hit the base." She was stunned.

"I'm not stupid."

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><p>Silently, she strode off, before jabbing at me that I absolutely needed to write about this in my journal. So I did, and here I am. What a day, am I right? Still, that Kaito person... it bugs me that he was able to damage me at this point. By the time I've saved the world, I would like you to put up a statue of Kaito somewhere to let everyone know he was a valiant opponent. This is Autumn Fidelis, your future-savior and soon-to-be hero, signing off.<p>

_Captain's Comment: Well, well, Autumn. I always knew you had a bit of an ego, but this is a little bit much, don't you think? Anyhow, he didn't lie, I'll give him that. Everything he said(to my knowledge) is correct. He understated the gravity of how much trouble he was in, but that's to be expected. And you know I don't want you to call me captain, so why do you keep doing it?_

_Response: What the hell? Since when can you reply to my journal entries? That's messed up!_

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><p><strong>Astrid's Log<strong>

Since I spent the entire incident in the control panel, I can't say much about the battle that occurred. All I know is that Autumn got himself damn-near killed, and that Leliel is holed up in her room and won't come out. Her log is pretty interesting, though, I think you should read it.

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><p><strong>Leliel's Log<strong>

In my room i found this transcript

i thought you should read it, i dont know who said what though, the machine read it when it stole the data packets, but it didnt have any input on who said what

"that machine, how did it do that"

"i dont know"

"isnt it just like a lancer though"

"what do you mean? thats crazy, no lancer could beat me!"

"well the way it works is just like lancer legs"

"oh, i see..."

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><p>More coming soon!<p> 


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